Coin-selecting mechanism for coin-operated vending-machines.



M. C. BAILEY.

GOIN SELECTING MEGHANSM FOB. GOIN OPEBATED VENDING MAGHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED OOT. 11, 1912.

Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

3 SEEETS-SHEET 1.

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M. G. BAILEY. .GOIN SELEGTING MEGHANISM FOR com OPERATED VENDINGMAGHINES.

APPLIGATION FILED 0GT.11, 1912.

1060,307 Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

` M. o. BAILEY.

GOIN SELEGTING MECHAHISM POR OOIN OPBRATED VENDING MAGHINES.

APPLIOATION PILED 0GT.11, 1912.

1,060,307 Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

3 BHEETS-SHEET 3.

& A WM& a %KM W TEU %TATE ?KEQE MORTIMER C. BAILEY, OF DERBY,CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR ONE-HALF TO EDWARD H. HANCOCK, OF SHELTON,CONNECTICUT( COIN-SLEILETING MECHANISM FOR COIN-OPERATEDVENDING-MACHINES.

mat eo?.

Speciflcation of Letters Patnt.

Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

Application filed October 11, 1912. Serial No. ?25,152.

' To all whom it may concemk Be it known that I, MORTIMER C. BAILEY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Derby, in the County of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Coin-Selecting Mechanism for Coin-Operated Vending-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection'with the accompanying drawings and the characters ofreference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, and which said drawings constitute part of this ap licati0n,and represent, in-

igure l a view in side elevation of a Coin-selecting mechanismconstructed in accordance with my invention, a port-ion of one side ofits case being broken away, as

well as a portion of one of its movementinto the upper end of a mainCoin-passage ,10 having a straight upper arm, a rearjwardly debouchingcurved lower arm, and ,what I shall call a selecting-chamber 11 locatedat the merge into eac ;sage 12 leads forward from the lower end ,of theupper arm of the said ,main coinplates. Fig. 2 a corresponding viewtaken from the opposite side of the case but without breaking the othermovement-plate away. Fig. 37 a view of the mechanism in transversesection on the line a-b of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 a broken View of the mechanismin vertical section on the line c-d of Fig. 1, looking rearward in thedirection of the arrows A, and drawn to twice the. the precedingfigures. i

My invention relates to an improved coinselecting mechanism for use inconjunction with coin-operated vending machines, the

object being to provide simple, reliable and' eificient means forguarding against thesurreptitious operation of coin-operated vendingmachines by the introduction of blanks or slugs into them in lieu oftrue coins.

With these. ends in view, my invention consists in a Coin-selectingmechanism having certain details ofconstruction and 'combiations ofparts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, my improved mechanism isorganized as a separate unit adapted to be combined with any suitablecoin-operated vending machine, the only requirement being that myimproved device shall be placed 'so as to receive the coin before thecom passes into the vending machine. however, my improved mechanism-'maybe organized with the coin-operated vending machine it is designed toguard, but in scale of j chamber 13 located in the forward lower,QOI'IIQI' of the case inclosing the mechanism. The said coin-passages10 and 12 are for-med :in a filler-plate 49` substantially conforming tothe thickness of the coins designed to be used and interposed betweentwo fixed vertically arranged movement-plates 14: and ,15 located in thecenter of the case'.

If preferred,

either case, its Construction and principle of operation will besubstantially unchanged.,

As herein shown, I employ an escutcheonlike gage 2 having a narrowcoin-slot 3 closely gaged in size to the size of the coin g which it isdesigned shall operate the vendi ing machine which is not shown, butwhich,

as aforesaid, may be of any approved charp acter and Construction, andfor any purpose for which such machines are made. .said gage 2 ismounted in the top 4: of a `case which also comprises sides,5 and 6, a

The

front end 7, a rear end 8, and a bottom 9.

The case may, of course, be changed in form, and, if preferred, the gage2 may be located on one side of it rather than on topof it.

As shown, the coin-slot 32 opens directly oint where the said armsother. A Shunt Coin-paspassage 10 and opens downward into a slug- Aprimary deflector 16 forming a part of the fillerlate 49 is located inthe lower -portion oi ;main Coin-passage 10 just forward of the verticalcenter thereof, and. therefore in position to normally deflect all coinsand ;slugs from 'frontto rear into the selectingichamber 11, as clearlyshown in Fig. 1, whereby all coins and slugs will be directed into thesaid selecting-chamber 11 in which the straight upper arm of the theywill be brought to rest upon a manu- 'ally operable horizontallyarranged stop- ,pn 17, as. shown by the coin 18 in Fig. 1.

In case a second coin or slug is introduced nto my improvedcom-selecting mechanism before the coin or slug last introduced into themechansm has been selected or rejected,

i and while it is still resting upon the said stop-pin 17, the secondcoin or slug willcollide with the upper edge of its immediatepredecessor and -be deflected forward by gravity over the high point ofthe primary d'eflector 16 and into the coin-Shunt passage 12 from whichit will drop into the slug-chamber 13.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a coin 18 as resting upon the pin 17, and a slug19 as being deflected by the said coin 18 into the coin-Shunt passage12. It will be observed that the distinction between the coin 18 and theslug 19 is that the former is furnished with an overhanging rim, whilethe sides of the latter are flat.

From the passage 12, the superfiuous coin or slug, as the case may be,drops upon an inclined deflector 20 extending from front to rear in theslug-chamber 13 and Operating to deflect the coin o-r slug upon theforwardly curved bo-ttom 21 of the said chamber, whereby the coin orslug will be deflected fromthe vertical to the horizontal plane andcaused to .slide forward and emerge through the horizontal dischargeslot22 at the lower extremity of the front end 7 of the case and then appearin the trough-like coin-receptacle 23. It will thus be seen that if anyone attempts to .pervert the operation of my improved selectingmechanismby introducing a second coin or slug into it without disposing of thelast preceding coin or slug introduced into it, the second coin or slugwill, so to speak, be shunted through the mechanism, and almostimmediately reappear in the receptacle 23; but no coin or slug will passthrough the Shunt-passage 12 unless at the time of its int-roductioninto the mechanism there happens to be a coin or slug supported uponthestoppin 17. In that case, the supported coin or slug acts as adeflector for any subsequently introduced coins or slugs until the coinor slug supported by the stop-pin 17 has been selected or rejected ,inthe chamber 11 as will be described later on.

Any coin or slug introduced into the machine so as `to assume theposition of ther shown by broken lines in^Fig. 1, the said plate 14being provided with a transverse opening 27 receivin the pin 24 which isfree to move back and orth in it, as shown in Fig. 4. Normally thepointed inner end of the said 'in 24 projects slightly into theselecting-cl famber 11 as also shown in Fig. 4.

In line with the selecting-pin 24 is a corresponding selecting-pin 28mouhted horiing-chamber'll by means of a horizontally.

arranged lever 32 resting upon a block 33 receiving a screw-stud 34 uponwhich the said lever 32 turns, and itself Secured to the outer face ofthe movement-plate 15. ward end of the said lever 32 co-acts with theinner face of a vertical operating-plate 35 Secured to a block 36fastened to the outer face of the lower end of the spring 29 carryingthe pin 28, as shown in Fig. 3. The rear end of the said lever 32co-acts with the upper end of a finger 37 eXtending upward from the freerear end of the horizontally arranged Operating-spring 38 which isfastened at its forward end by screws 39, 39, to the outer face of themovenent-plate 15. The horizontally arranged stop-pin 17 aforesaid, ismounted in the said spring 38 and extends inward therefrom through anopening 40 in 'the moVement-plate 15 into the middle of theselecting-chamber 11 at a point directly below the selecting-pins 24 and28, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4.

1 For the operation of the spring 38, I employ a push-button 41 mountedin a bushing 42 in the side 5 of the case of the device, and heldagainst being` drawn outward in the said bushing by means ,of a collar43. At its inner end the push-button 41 passes through alined openings44 and 45 in the plates 14 and 15 of the case. its projecting rear endbeing reducd in diameter as at 46 to enter an eye 47 fo'rmed for itsreception at the rear end of the sprin 38, as shown in Fig. 2.

The for-' Below and a little in front of the stop-pin 17 I locate, asshown in Fig. 1, a secondary deflector 48 forming a part of thefiller-plate 49 and over which the curved lower arm of themain-coin-passage 10 debouches to the v rearward.

It should now be explained that the operating-spring 38 is alwayssuperior in tension to the spring 29 carrying the selecting-pin 28.`Normally, therefore, the action of the spring 29 through its finger 28and the-lever 32, will be to overcome the tension of the spring 29, andhold the same in its sprung position in which it is shown in Fig. 4, andin which the selecting-pin 28 is withdrawn from the chamber 11 intowhich the said pin is not allowed to move until the user of 'the device,by Operating the push-button 41',

overcomes' the 'power of the spring 38 and allows the spring 29 toassert itself in pro-' jecting the selecting-pin 28 into the chamber 11.

- Having now described the construction of my improved coin-selectingmechanism, I will proceed to explain its operation. I

The coin 18 when introduced into the coinslot 3, ,will descend bygravity until it strikes the primary defiector 16, which will deflect itrearwardly into the selecting-chamber 11 in which it will be stopped andheld by the stop-pin 17. Just before the said coin 18 comes in contactwith the upper face of the stop-pin 17 the upper portion of itsoVerhanging rim engages on one side with the selecting-pin 24 and crowdsthe same out of the said chamber 11. The coin having been lodged uponthe pin 17 as described, and having beenengaged with the selecting-pin24, the-user of the device begins to operate the push-button 41, wherebythe Operatingspring 38 is slightly Sprung away from the outer face ofthe movement plate 15, thus moving its upwardly extending finger 37 awayfrom the rear end of the lever 32 so that the tension of the spring 38is removed from the said lever 32, and hence from the spring 29 whichnow asserts itself to move the selecting-pin`28 inward so as to engagewith the overhanging rim on the opposite face of the coin which is nowengaged by its rim on opposite sides thereof at a point directly abovethe stop-pin 17 which, meanwhile, has been backed out of the slot, butnot sufficiently to remove its support from the coin. As soon, however,as both of the selecting-pins 24 and 28 have, in the manner described,been engaged with the opposite faces of the coin, the continued inwardmovement of the push-button will operate to entirely remove the stop-pin17 from the selecting-chamber 11, and hence from the position in whichit supports the coin, which will now be swung by gravity upon theselecting pins 24 and 28 as upon a center, until the center of the co-inhas passed the point of the secondary deflector 48. The movement of thepush-button 41 being continued, its extreme inner end now engages withthe lower end of the operating-plate 35, whereby the spring 29 is sprungoutwardly sufiiciently to disengage the selecting-pin 28 from the coinwhich then disengages itself from the Qpin 24 and drops downward throughthe curved lower end of the coinpassage 10 and functions the vendingmachine, whatever that may be. In swinging upon the pins 24 and 28 upona center as described above,'the coin sweeps through a vert-icallyarranged coin-slot 50 leading from the selecting-chamber 11 into thesing-chamber 13, as shown in Figs. 1' and 2.

It will be readily understood from the foregoing, that if a dummy orslug 19 corresponding in gage to the coin 18 is introduced into thecoin-slot 3, the operation of the mechanism will be as above described,except for theimportant difference that as the slug has no raised riminstead of swinging upon the selecting-pins 24 and 28 as upon a centerwhen the stop-pin 17 is removed from under it, it will disengage itselffrom the said pins and dropwith its center in front of the secondarydefiector 48 by which it will be defiected through the slot 50 into theslug-chamber 13 from which it will be ejected through the slot 22 intothe slugreceptacle 23. In this way, the return, ,so to speak, of theslug to the person attempting to surreptitiously operate the mechanism,will indicate to him that he has failed of his purpose. The operation ofthe device will be the same with a smooth or much worn coin as with adummy or slug, so that by means of my improved coin-selecting mechanism,the public will soon learn that it.

can be operated only by legitimate and unworn or relatively perfectcoins.

For the reason that the slot 50 aforesaid, stands at a right angle tothe slot 22, it is virtually impossible for anyone possessed of a greatmany slugs, to surreptitiously pass one through the mechanism in placeof a legitimate coin by the introduction of a great many slugs into theslug-chamber 13 through the slot 22. Slugs may indeed be introducedflatwise into the slug-chamber 13 through the horizontal slot 22, butthe per son who would work this gam has no means of controlling theslugs 'after their introduction into the slug-chamber, and hence cannotmake them assume the vertical positions which they must take in order tomove in reverse direction through the vertical coin-slot 50 so as toenter the selecting-- chamber 11 and so descend through the lower end ofthe coin-passage 10 into the vending machine the operation of which isthe thing aimed at by this mode of attack. As shown, the selecting-pins24 and 28 are located directly over the stop-pin 17, but this is notessential, the only requisite being that they shall be positioned so asto cause the coin Suspended from them to swing over the high point ofthe secondary defleotor 48 and enter .the lower end of the maincoinpassage 10.

It will, of course, be understood that my coin-selecting device may beadapted for handling coins of ,any denomination, the size of the deviceand the tension of its spring being govern'ed accordingly.

I claim v 1. In a coin-selecting mechanism, the combination with twoselecting-pins, arranged in line with each other and normally separatedfor the i'eception of a coin fiatwise between them, and one'of the pinsbeing movable toward and away from the other in line therewth, of adeflector located below the said' selecting-pins upon which-the binationwith two selecting-pins upon which the coins are swungby their rims asupon a center,' the said pins being arranged in line with each other andone being movable toward and away from the other inline therewith, of adeflector located below the said' pins in position to co-act with coinsand slugs according as they function in the said pins.

3. In a coin-selecting mecha1ism,the combination with two selecting-pinsco-acting with the rims of the coins for swinging the same, the saidpins being arranged in line with each other and one being movable towardand away from the other in line therewith, of a stop-pin located belowthe said selecting-pins for temporarily supporting the coins and slugs,and a deflector located below the said stop-pin to function the coinsand slugs after they are released by the said selecting-pins andstop-pin.

4. In a coin-selecting mechanisn, the combination 'with twoselecting-pins co-acting with the rims of the coins for swinging thesame, the said pins being arranged in line with each other and one beingmovable toward and away from the other in line therewith; of a stop-pinlocated below the said selecting-pim, a deflector located below the saidstop-pin, and means connected with one of the selecting-pins and thesaid stoppin for'operating the same consecutively.

5. In acoin-selecting mechanism, the com binatio-n with twoselecting-pins arranged in line with each other and one' being movabletoward and away from the other in line therewith, of a stoppin locatedbelow the said selecting-pins and temporarily supporting the coins, anda push-button for the operation of the said stop-pin.

6. In a coin-selecting mechanism, the combination with twoselecting-pina; co-acting with the rims of the coins for swinging thesame and 'so selecting the coins, the said pins being arranged in linewith each other and one being movable toward and away from the other inline therewith, of a stoppin locatedbelow the said pins, a ^push-button,and an Operating-spring carrying the said stop-pin and operated by thesaid pushbutton.

'7. In a coin-selecting mechanism, the combination with twoselectingpins, of a stoppin located below the same and temporarilysupporting the coins and slugs,aspring carrying one of the saidselecting-pins, a pushbutton, an Operating-spring carrying thesaidstop-pin and operated by said pushbutton, and connection between thesaid springs, whereby the selecting-pin specified is normally retired bythe superior tension of the Operating-spring, and brought into play byitscarrying spring when the tension of the Operating-spring s overcomeby e the operation of the pushbutton 8. In a coin-selecting mechanism,the combination with a coin-passage having a straight upper end and acurved lower end, with a 'selecting-chamber located between the saidends of the passage, and selectingpins located in the said selectingchamber and arranged in line with each other and one pin being movabletoward and 'away from the other in line therewith.

9. In a coin-selecting mechanism, the combination with twoselecting-pins arranged =in line with each other, of two springs inwhich the said selecting-pins are respectively mounted and which permittheir movement toward and away from each other in line vwith each other,a stop-pin located below said selecting-pins, a defiector located below:the said stop-pin, and means for Operating the stop-pin, the removal ofwhich from under a coin or slug turns the same over to the action of theselecting-pina 10. In a coin-selecting nechanism, the combination with amain coin-passage and a coin Shunt-passage, of two' selecting-pinslocated in the said main coin-passage and selecting the coins by theirrims, arranged in linewith each other and normally separated for thereception of a coin flatwise between them, and one of the pins beingmovable toward and' away from the other in line therewith, a stop-pinlocated below the said 2 W 31I1 nd a deflector hereb COlIlS OI` SlU Sintroduced into the mechanism prior to the disposition by the stop-pinof the last preceding coin or slug to be introduced into the mechanism,are diverted into the said coinshunt passage. 11. In a coin-selectingmechanism, the combination with a coin-passage containing aselecting-chamber, of a slug-chamber connected with the saidselecting-chamber by means of a Vertical slot, two selecting-pinsarranged in line with each other and normally separated for thereception of a coin flatwise between them, and one of the pine beingmovable toward and away from the other in line therewith, and a stop-pinlocated below the said selecting pins, by 'which the coins are arrestedand upon which the are temporarily supported preparatory t the selectingaction of the said selecting-pins,

the slugs and coins not so selected passing i toward and away from theother 'in line therewith, and a deflector located in the saidslug-chamber for deflecting the coins entering it into a horizontalplane.

13. In a Coin-selecting mechanism, the combination with a coin-passa e,of a slugchamber connected with the sad passage by means of a verticalcoin-slot, selecting-pins located in the said passage a't a pointtherein adjacent to the said slot and arranged in line.

with each other and one being movable toward and away from the other inline therewith, and. a deflector located below the said pins anddeflecting thecoins into the lower end of the said passage or into thesaid slugchamber according to the functioning of the said pins upon thecoins or slugs.

14. In a Coin-selecting mechanism, the combnation with a Coin-passage,of a slugchamber' communicating therewith, coinselecting pins located inthe said passage, a

stop-pin`located in the said passage below the said selecting-pins,springs carrying the said selecting-pins, an Operating spring carryinthe said stop-pin, connection between t e said Operating spring and oneof the selecting-pin springs, whereby the pin carried by the said springis normall retired, and a push-button co-acting wi'h the saidoperating-spring,whereby the selectingpin carried by the springcontrolled by the Operating-spring is permtted to engage with a coinbefore the stop-pin removes its support therefrom.

In testimony whereof, I have Signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

' MORTIMER C.'BAILEY. Witnesses HESTER A. ROGERS, HAROLD E. DRnW.

